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The organisers behind the Mauritian Open Air Festival, a yearly event celebrating Mauritian food, culture and general family entertainment and held in north London, have announced a special ‘family party’ this March, HEM News Agency exclusively reports.

The special event will be held on the 10 March 2018 at the Decorum Banqueting Suites in Wood Green, north London, just two days before the island of Mauritius itself marks a half-century of free rule. Previously the country of 1.8 million people was an outpost of the British Empire.

Celebrations will take place against the backdrop of a live concert by the Omaz Sega Band, performing the national music of Mauritius, séga. For patrons, there will also be a fully-licensed and stocked bar and Mauritian snacks on offer. There will also be tight security and a smart dress code enforced. The event will also be sponsored by a handful of Mauritius-connected companies, including the national airline of the country, Air Mauritius.

In a very ordinary development from Japan this past week, the country’s foreign minister Taro Kano appointed popular children’s characters Pikachu, from the cult series Pokémon alongside Hello Kitty as official ambassadors for the city of Osaka, Mashable online magazine reported yesterday.

In honour of their role in publicising Japan around the world, the foreign minister, who is a representative of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in an English message on the 29th November, that Pikachu and Hello Kitty would represent Osaka in its bid to host the World Expo 2025. Accompanying the tweet were two photos of Kono handing official dossiers of appointment to two individuals dressed in the children’s cartoon character costumes.

I have appointed Pikachu and Hello Kitty as Ambassador to promote the City of Osaka for the 2025 Expo host city. pic.twitter.com/mCkiCl5T5j

Hello Kitty, designed by Yuko Shimizu for Sanrio, has been adored by countless girls and boys since 1974, while Pikachu, the lead character of the animated Pokémon series and friend of human youngster Ash Ketchum, who always chooses him to battle other Pokemon, will be considerably pleased at being chosen for this prestigious appointment by the government of Japan. Pikachu first appeared on a video game in 1996 and the TV cartoon became a defining memory of the late 1990s and early 2000s

The appointments come as Osaka vies for the chance to host the 2025 Expo alongside three other nominated cities, Paris, France; Yekaterinburg, Russia; and Baku, Azerbaijan. If Osaka does win the bid, it will be next in line after Dubai hosts the 2020 event. The winner will be announced in November 2018.

This week, a devastating fire tore through the Grenfell Tower, a residential block located in Kensington, London, causing major loss of life and homelessness in the early hours of June 14, 2017. A fire believed to have originated from an exploding fridge in a fourth-floor flat then spread rapidly through the 1970s tenement, housing mainly poorer Londoners. Aluminium cladding fixed to the outside of Grenfell Tower, which sits on the Lancaster West housing estate, and which was intended to smarten the structure’s appearance, may have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire, trapping families and others behind thick smoke and burning debris.

According to the latest reports coming off of Twitter, London’s police authority, the Metropolitan Police service, believe that 58 Grenfell Tower residents are still missing, presumed deceased. The police force’s commander, Stuart Cundy, announced the figures via the social media website in the past hour. So far around 30 people are known to have died, but Cundy has warned that the figure is expected to rise, as firefighters comb through the gutted tower block.

Searches for the missing and dead were taking place yesterday, but were halted temporarily for safety reasons, but are resuming today. The Met have also promised families of the missing that “…. as soon as we can, we will locate and recover their loved ones”, according to tweeter Molly Hunter.

The government of British prime minister Theresa May has found itself under increasing pressure over its regulations governing safety provisions for the country’s, 4,000 or so tower blocks. Protests have taken place in Kensington itself and in central London demanding answers and justice for the victims.

Ilford, UNITED KINGDOM

VIJAY SHAH

Popular Ilford based Indian gastropub the Ashgrove Restaurant has formally announced a special New Year’s Eve night to welcome in 2017 for local partygoers to come and enjoy great music and traditional and contemporary Punjabi, Indian continental and Chinese fare, great music and visual entertainments.

The restaurant, a short walking distance from Seven Kings town centre, will have music entertainment on the night provided by DJ Kash of local outfit Kash Events, which provides party and other event planning services as well as boasting a wide music portfolio from the Bollywood, bhangra, RNB and ‘club classics’. The NYE event is currently being promoted on the restaurant’s social media page where they promise it will be an ‘amazing evening’. A finger food buffet will also be available.

Located on Green Lane, Ashgrove, which was formerly a public house, is renowned locally for its dishes, including chilli paneer (Indian cheese), lamb and chicken grills, kebabs and snacks – including vegetarian, coupled with a well-stocked bar. The restaurant is popular with local sports fans who flock to watch football matches on its many widescreen televisions. It also boasts a beer garden to round off its unique ability to combine a traditional English pub with a modern Indian restaurant.

The event will be held on 31st December 2016, with tickets costing £25 for adults and £10 for children under 12, with buffet included. People interested in attending should call +44 208 599 4181 or email info@ashgroverestaurant.co.uk. The Ashgrove Restaurant is situated at 271 Green Lane, Ilford, Redbridge, Essex, United Kingdom IG3 9TN.